Amersham woman tells of her brother's final journey

For Mrs Close the decision has personal relevance because she faced the same worries after accompanying her terminally ill brother John on his final journey to the clinic.
Mrs Close, of Stanley Hill, said: "John would have been really pleased to see the whole subject being discussed in a grown up way and would have been pleased to see the clarity she has achieved."
John Close had Motor Neurone Disease and his condition deteriorated during 2002. The following year, no longer able to hold his head up, speak, stand or swallow, he contacted Dignitas to ask for help to die.
He became the seventh Briton to die in Zurich on May 26 2003 with his girlfriend Peggy, Lesley and her partner Michael and his sister Margaret at his bedside.
While Mrs Close, who has recently been made a patron of charity Dignity in Dying wants to see legal assisted deaths permitted in the UK - she would want to have it only available to those who are terminally ill or whose suffering is intolerable.
Mrs Close, who resigned from her job as a sales rep before the final journey, said: "John had done some research that if I helped him die here it would be a crime. We didn't know what going to Dignitas meant with regard to the Suicide Act 1961. It said it was no longer an offence to kill yourself but it is to help someone to do so."